Different
by Abraxas27
Summary: What happens when someone created to destroy only wants to create? Read on, and discover 27's tale.
1. Intro

_The year was 2098. After the Energy Crisis and the Great Rupture, Europe, Africa and Asia had allied and Orien, a new union, rose from the ashes of war. South America grudgingly allied the North, and Occiden was created._

_A battle ensued over the remaining energy resources. This war, known as World War III, was a catastrophe. Some even said it was worse than the previous World War, which occurred a century ago. It consumed more energy than the resources could offer._

_After half a century, however, both Occiden and Orien seemed to forget their differences, and allied. The question was, of course, "Who ends up in charge?" Some people half-heartedly suggested a world republic, but few took the idea seriously._

_AbraLabs, Occiden's main scientific contributor, had been, over the years, trying to merge man and machine as a backup plan. What a soldier that would be! All experiments had failed, however, but Dr. Nucog was on the edge of a breakthrough …_


	2. Welcome

AbraLabs, Sector HM

November 13

_Finally,_ thought a tired yet satisfied Doctor Jason Nucog. _I have succeeded! All I have to do now is wait until Subject 27 awakens._ He could hardly contain his excitement. He wanted to shake the man-bot awake, but that could severely affect its programming. He would have to be patient. He had already waited 15 years. _A few minutes won't hurt, now would the-_

His thoughts were interrupted by a strange, coughing noise as the man-bot awoke. If it/he had eyelids, the cyborg would have blinked. It/he suddenly stumbled and smashed against the floor.

_Oh dear._

The doctor, out of pity, offered his hand to help the creature up. He/it accepted the help. The man-bot was surprisingly light. He/it straightened up, but bent forward as his chassis rattled by the strength of his coughs.

Eventually, the coughing fit ended.

"Thank you."

Dr. Nucog backed up. The prototype stood straight, observing his surroundings.

"Where am I?"

Dr. Nucog straightened his tie."You, Subject 27, are in the AbraLabs Research Facility, Sector HM, cell 24 at the moment. You are the twenty-seventh of the HM-1 Prototypes, and, I hope, the first to function properly. All those before you either exploded or tried to destroy everything around them."

The man-bot slowly nodded. "What is the purpose of the HM-1?"

"Your mission is to protect our great union, Occiden, at all costs."

He/it suddenly laughed. "How can I? I know how to swing a stick, but not much else."

"Not to worry, 27. Soon, you'll know not only how to use weapons, but also battle tactics, survival techniques and become skilled in varied fields of science."

"I do not know what those words mean."

The doctor sighed."Let's begin your training, then."

He led the prototype over to a strange metallic object that resembled a chair."Sit down, and we will begin."

The man-bot sat down and reclined, as the doctor instructed.

"Let's begin with language."

He/it felt the urge to ask how he would learn, but his/its gaze was suddenly clouded by hundreds, thousands, millions of words. Almost instantly, he/it knew what each of them meant, in what language they ought to be spoken, and how to pronounce them correctly. Then the flow of information stopped.

_It isn't enough_, Subject 27 thought, half-drunk. _I must know more._

He/it looked at Dr. Nucog. "Is there any more you can teach me?"

"We have barely started, 27. There are many things you still do not know. If you like, I can download it all at once."

"Could you?"

The doctor suddenly smiled."Young … man? Robot? Either way, young… man-bot, can't you see I downloaded dozens of languages in a single minute?"

"A minute? It felt like a second."

"Interesting. It seems this will be a long night for others, but a short one for you."

A few keystrokes later, one could literally hear the mechanical buzz as 27 absorbed the information. The full download would take 16 hours, so Jason left for home. There was still something he ought to do before calling it a day.

He walked as quickly as he could to the CEO's office, knocked, waited for the "Come in", and entered.

"Ah, Dr. Nucog. What brings you here?"

"Success. Subject 27 is fully functional and appears eager to learn as much as he can."

"It, doctor. This isn't a man we're talking about."

"Neither is he a robot."

The CEO sighed. "That's a discussion for another time. Now, back to business. I want you to write down everything 27 does. We need to make sure we got it right this time. I don't want to get the President angry at us."


End file.
